Patents by Inventor Yaowen Li

Yaowen Li has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Publication number: 20250147154
    Abstract: Disclosed are displacement sensors constructed from optical fibers having a long elongation with low-cost ToF sensors that advantageously do not suffer the infirmities of the art. The ToF sensor and the optical fiber ends that launch and receive light are packaged such that no ambient light affects measurements, and the structure is protected from contamination which eliminates optical degradation. With multi-point measurement capabilities and the low-cost features of ToF sensors, many displacement sensors can be arranged in a mesh to map out displacements over a large area and over all directions for civil and/or geotechnical structures. Wireless or other communications mechanisms may be employed in conjunction with our novel sensors to send real time measurement data to a central office for real time monitoring and analysis.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 2, 2024
    Publication date: May 8, 2025
    Applicant: NEC Laboratories America, Inc.
    Inventors: Yaowen LI, Hao WANG, Yuheng CHEN, Ting Wang
  • Publication number: 20250130307
    Abstract: Disclosed are systems and methods directed to a MIMO method that detects and localizes an object without requiring the object to emit a sound. Operationally, multiple speakers generate tone signals at different frequencies, while multiple acoustic sensors demodulate the complex amplitude of each frequency. By monitoring the feature variation of the relative phase (or intensity) vector from the complex amplitude, our method detects or localizes movement of the object. For large-scale applications, a fiber-optic system and method that employs distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) in which an optical fiber is used as one or more acoustic sensors located at points along the length of the optical fiber. A single DAS system provides numerous sensors using only a single optical fiber thereby enabling perfect synchronization and centralized signal processing. Notably, with such a DAS arrangement, cost and complexity is significantly reduced, while privacy is preserved.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 30, 2024
    Publication date: April 24, 2025
    Applicant: NEC Laboratories America, Inc.
    Inventors: Jian FANG, Wataru KOHNO, Yaowen LI, Ting WANG
  • Patent number: 12256002
    Abstract: Physimetric-based data security for coded distributed temperature sensing (DTS) in which physimetric information is extracted from a coded-DTS interrogator which is unique for each interrogator at each operating run time—and used to reconstruct a final temperature determination from DTS data. The physimetric information includes coded-DTS pulse code and coded-DTS pulse profile information as a key to permit secure sharing with authorized users. The pulse code and pulse profile information are encrypted and made available to an authorized user. The authorized user can then decrypt the pulse code and pulse profile information and subsequently use this key information (pulse profile and pulse code files) to retrieve temperature information from for example, a remote computer providing a continuous raw data feed—without being susceptible to eavesdropping.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 31, 2022
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2025
    Assignee: NEC Corporation
    Inventors: Qiang Wang, Junqiang Hu, Jian Fang, Yaowen Li, Ting Wang
  • Patent number: 12130189
    Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure describe distributed fiber optic sensing systems (DFOSa), methods, and structures for distributed temperature sensing (DTS) that 1) employs a GmAPD instead of a traditional LmAPD detector which advantageously produces a 10˜20 dB gain improvement of SNR for a far-end weak signal, thereby improving long range detectability; 2) employs an inventive gating scheme that advantageously and surprisingly overcomes the “dead time” problem for GmAPD working in SPC mode that plagues Geiger mode operation; and 3) third, employs an inventive post-processing technique that advantageously allows our methods to correct any dark noise caused signal distortion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 3, 2021
    Date of Patent: October 29, 2024
    Assignee: NEC Corporation
    Inventors: Qiang Wang, Yaowen Li
  • Publication number: 20240302225
    Abstract: Disclosed are vehicle-infrastructure interaction systems and methods employing a distributed fiber optic sensing (DFOS) system operating with pre-deployed fiber-optic telecommunication cables buried alongside/proximate to highways/roadways which provide 24/7 continuous information stream of vehicle traffic at multiple sites; only require a single optical sensor cable that senses/monitors multiple locations of interest and multiple lanes of traffic; the single optical sensor cable measures multiple related information (multi-parameters) about a vehicle, including driving speed, wheelbase, number of axles, tire pressure, and others, that can be used to derive secondary information such as weight-in-motion; and overall information about a fleet of vehicles, such as traffic congestion or traffic-cargo volume. Different from merely traffic counts, our approach can provide the count grouped by vehicle-types and cargo weights.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 7, 2024
    Publication date: September 12, 2024
    Applicant: NEC Laboratories America, Inc.
    Inventors: Philip JI, Ting WANG, Yaowen LI, Junqiang HU, Shuji MURAKAMI, Jian FANG
  • Patent number: 12057273
    Abstract: A method for preparing an inorganic perovskite battery based on a synergistic effect of gradient annealing and antisolvent includes preparing a perovskite layer by a gradient annealing and an antisolvent treatment. A thickness of the perovskite layer is 100 to 1000 nm; when preparing a perovskite precursor solution of the perovskite layer, a solvent is an amide-based solvent and/or a sulfone-based solvent; a concentration of the perovskite precursor solution for preparing the perovskite layer is 0.4 to 2 M; and the gradient annealing is conducted at 40 to 70° C./0.5 to 5 min+70 to 130° C./0.5 to 5 min+130 to 160° C./5 to 20 min+160 to 280° C./0 to 20 min; and a solvent for the anti-solvent treatment is an alcohol solvent, a benzene solvent or an ether solvent.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 8, 2021
    Date of Patent: August 6, 2024
    Assignee: SOOCHOW UNIVERSITY
    Inventors: Yaowen Li, Weijie Chen, Yonfang Li
  • Publication number: 20240125962
    Abstract: Method for source localization for cable cut prevention using distributed fiber optic sensing (DFOS)/distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) is described that is robust/immune to underground propagation speed uncertainty. The method estimates the location of a vibration source while considering any uncertainty of vibration propagation speed and formulates the localization as an optimization problem, and both location of the sources and the propagation speed are treated as unknown. This advantageously enables our method to adapt to variances of the velocity and produce a better generalized performance with respect to environmental changes experienced in the field. Our method operates using a DFOS system and AI techniques as an integrated solution for vibration source localization along an entire optical sensor fiber cable route and process real-time DFOS data and extract features that are related to a location of a source of vibrations that may threaten optical fiber facilities.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 11, 2023
    Publication date: April 18, 2024
    Applicant: NEC Laboratories America, Inc.
    Inventors: Yifan WU, Ming-Fang HUANG, Shaobo HAN, Jian FANG, Yuheng CHEN, Yaowen LI, Mohammad KHOJASTEPOUR
  • Publication number: 20230152151
    Abstract: Systems, methods, and structures for colorless distributed fiber optic sensing/distributed vibration sensing (DOFS/DVS) over dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) telecommunications facilities that operate over a C-band wavelength range spanning from 1525 nm to 1565 nm wherein the DOFS/DVS systems exhibit suitable reconfigurability of its wavelength to match a wavelength of a desired testing channel and may advantageously provide DOFS/DVS capabilities to existing DWDM communications infrastructure as a retrofit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 15, 2022
    Publication date: May 18, 2023
    Applicant: NEC LABORATORIES AMERICA, INC
    Inventors: Yaowen LI, Jian FANG, Shuj MURAKAMI, Philip JI, Ting WANG
  • Patent number: 11644369
    Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure describe monitoring of optical fiber by distributed temperature sensing (DTS) and determining optical fiber degradation and/or abnormal environmental events including landslides, fires, etc., from DTS data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 19, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 9, 2023
    Assignee: NEC Corporation
    Inventors: Ming-Fang Huang, Yaowen Li
  • Publication number: 20230092575
    Abstract: A flexible solar cell is a flexible organic solar cell that can be completed at a low temperature, is easily prepared, and has a relatively low cost and relatively high efficiency. The flexible transparent electrode is prepared by selecting a plastic substrate with silver nanowires embedded therein, and thus, a flexible transparent electrode with better electrical properties, stronger adhesion and better mechanical properties can be obtained. The flexible transparent electrode prepared using the substrate with the silver nanowires embedded therein has lower sheet resistance and higher conductivity.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 10, 2020
    Publication date: March 23, 2023
    Inventors: Yaowen LI, Xiaobin CHEN, Yongfang LI
  • Publication number: 20220247562
    Abstract: Physimetric-based data security for coded distributed temperature sensing (DTS) in which physimetric information is extracted from a coded-DTS interrogator which is unique for each interrogator at each operating run time—and used to reconstruct a final temperature determination from DTS data. The physimetric information includes coded-DTS pulse code and coded-DTS pulse profile information as a key to permit secure sharing with authorized users. The pulse code and pulse profile information are encrypted and made available to an authorized user. The authorized user can then decrypt the pulse code and pulse profile information and subsequently use this key information (pulse profile and pulse code files) to retrieve temperature information from for example, a remote computer providing a continuous raw data feed—without being susceptible to eavesdropping.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 31, 2022
    Publication date: August 4, 2022
    Applicant: NEC LABORATORIES AMERICA, INC
    Inventors: Qiang WANG, Junqiang HU, Jian FANG, Yaowen LI, Ting WANG
  • Patent number: 11391622
    Abstract: An optical fiber sensing system with reduced spatial resolution and noise for multiple applications and method of operating same that employs a coherent receiver configured to detect and digitize both I and Q signals in two polarizations and performs signal beating in a digital signal processor (DSP) using the polarization-diverse signals to obtain beating results for multiple polarization state pairs that effectively reduces polarization induced fading effect(s) while providing faster sensing speed(s) and more efficient filtering. Since Rayleigh signals are captured in two orthogonal polarizations, four beating products are determined at once in the DSP and all are used for fiber strain determination thereby avoiding polarization fading.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 5, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 19, 2022
    Inventors: Ezra Ip, Yue-Kai Huang, Junqiang Hu, Philip Ji, Shuji Murakami, Yaowen Li
  • Patent number: 11387898
    Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure describe optical fiber sensing systems, methods and structures disclosing a distributed optical fiber sensor network constructed on a switched optical fiber telecommunications infrastructure to detect temperatures, acoustic effects, and vehicle traffic—among others—demonstrated with a number of different network topologies.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 12, 2022
    Inventors: Ting Wang, Ming-Fang Huang, Yaowen Li, Philip Ji
  • Patent number: 11248144
    Abstract: Disclosed herein is a coating composition comprising a silsesquioxane component having one or more reactive functional groups that render it curable using ultraviolet radiation; where the one or more reactive functional groups are selected from the group consisting of an acrylate, a vinyl ether, or an epoxy; and optionally, a co-reactive non-silsesquioxane monomer and/or an oligomer having one or more reactive functional groups that are curable using ultraviolet radiation and are selected from the group consisting of free radically curable acrylates, cationically curable epoxies, and cationically curable vinyl ethers; where the coating composition is disposed and cured on an optical article; where the optical article is at least one of an optical fiber or an optical planar waveguide; and where the average functionality of the composition is greater than one.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 9, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 15, 2022
    Assignee: OFS FITEL, LLC
    Inventors: Debra A Simoff, Kenneth S Feder, Yaowen Li, Jacob Wrubel, Kenichi Suyama, Mei Wen
  • Patent number: 11204286
    Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure describe single mode fiber distributed temperature sensing (DTS) with improved noise characteristics employing superluminescent emitting diodes (SLEDs) and/or amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) light sources.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 21, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 21, 2021
    Inventors: Yaowen Li, Ming-Fang Huang, Shuji Murakami, Philip Ji, Ting Wang
  • Publication number: 20210318181
    Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure describe distributed fiber optic sensing systems (DFOSa), methods, and structures for distributed temperature sensing (DTS) that 1) employs a GmAPD instead of a traditional LmAPD detector which advantageously produces a 10˜20 dB gain improvement of SNR for a far-end weak signal, thereby improving long range detectability; 2) employs an inventive gating scheme that advantageously and surprisingly overcomes the “dead time” problem for GmAPD working in SPC mode that plagues Geiger mode operation; and 3) third, employs an inventive post-processing technique that advantageously allows our methods to correct any dark noise caused signal distortion.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 3, 2021
    Publication date: October 14, 2021
    Applicant: NEC LABORATORIES AMERICA, INC
    Inventors: Qiang WANG, Yaowen LI
  • Publication number: 20210318182
    Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure describe distributed fiber optic sensing (DFOS) systems, methods, and structures that advantageously achieve single mode fiber distributed temperature sensing (DTS) with improved noise characteristics by employing a polarization scrambler in its optical chain.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 10, 2021
    Publication date: October 14, 2021
    Applicant: NEC LABORATORIES AMERICA, INC
    Inventors: Yaowen LI, Yue-Kai HUANG, Ting WANG
  • Publication number: 20210266065
    Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure describe optical fiber sensing systems, methods and structures disclosing a distributed optical fiber sensor network constructed on a switched optical fiber telecommunications infrastructure to detect temperatures, acoustic effects, and vehicle traffic—among others—demonstrated with a number of different network topologies.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 28, 2020
    Publication date: August 26, 2021
    Applicant: NEC LABORATORIES AMERICA, INC
    Inventors: Ting WANG, Ming-Fang HUANG, Yaowen LI, Philip JI
  • Publication number: 20210199512
    Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure describe single mode fiber distributed temperature sensing (DTS) with improved noise characteristics employing superluminescent emitting diodes (SLEDs) and/or amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) light sources.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 21, 2020
    Publication date: July 1, 2021
    Applicant: NEC LABORATORIES AMERICA, INC
    Inventors: Yaowen LI, Ming-Fang HUANG, Shuji MURAKAMI, Philip JI, Ting WANG
  • Publication number: 20210181059
    Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure describe systems, methods and structures providing bipolar cyclic coding for Brillouin optical time domain analysis that may be employed—for example—to determine high accuracy temperature and/or strain measurements along an optical fiber. Systems, methods, and structures according to the present disclosure employ the bipolar cyclic coding technique that advantageously overcomes the problems that plague the prior art and provides extended sensing range resulting from superior signal-to-noise characteristics.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 8, 2020
    Publication date: June 17, 2021
    Applicant: NEC LABORATORIES AMERICA, INC
    Inventors: Jian FANG, Yaowen LI, Ting WANG